The Parable of the Lost Nephew
by 1Timothy412
Summary: Hiro runs away and intends to pursue his own desires. But when things don't go according to his plan, he finds that being away and alone isn't what he originally thought it would be. Will Hiro return?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Hiro Hamada wasn't your average teenage kid. He was thirteen and already about to start his senior year of high school. There was no denying that his genius would get him very far in life. However, he scarcely used said genius and instead had taken up the practice of bot fighting: a gang ritual and means of gambling determined by whose bot is left standing by the end of a battle between two small, remote-controlled battle bots.

It was nearing the end of July. Hiro had originally heard about bot fighting from some kids at school. He thought it sounded fun and heard about how much money people could make doing that, so thought he'd have a go at it one night. After his first bot fight, he was instantly hooked. Despite the fact that bot fighting was illegal, Hiro continued the practice and was consequently arrested several times for it.

Hiro's older brother, Tadashi, believed that Hiro was wasting his knowledge and potential. Hiro, however, believed he knew all there was to know.

"There is still so much to learn," Tadashi told him. But Hiro didn't understand this until a while later.

Tadashi wasn't the only one who didn't like Hiro bot fighting. Hiro and Aunt Cass had gotten into many arguments about it as well. But one night he decided that it was the last straw.

Hiro silently tiptoed down the stairs. When he came to the banister, he turned his head to look and saw that Aunt Cass was watching TV.

Hiro cautiously crept down the stairs, stepping over and around each area of every stair that creaked when treaded upon. He then came to the landing, then to the floor. Crouching down and crawling to avoid detection, he made his way to the second flight of stairs, careful not to let his shoes squeak or the zipper of his hoodie clink against the hardwood floor.

He was almost there when he heard the TV being muted and Aunt Cass walking to the kitchen. As she was coming back with some snacks, she casually glanced his direction.

"Where are you going?" she asked him, setting the snacks down and walking over to him.

Hiro stood upright and tried to explain to her.

"Well, you see," he told her, running his right hand through his hair, "I was on my way to SFIT."

"At 9:30 at night?" she questioned.

"I want to see what Tadashi's doing and maybe start on a project of my own," he told her.

"Then why are you crawling?"

"Uhh…"

Hiro hadn't exactly come us with an excuse for the last piece of this conversation, but he felt that Aunt Cass was onto him nonetheless.

Aunt Cass had tried to lovingly explain to Hiro why bot fighting was dangerous and not just illegal. She had heard of many incidences that occurred with it and had seen articles in the newspaper about it. She wanted to protect Hiro from these things, but he still made his decisions against Aunt Cass' will.

"Well, I think I gotta get going," Hiro said to Aunt Cass.

"Not so fast," Aunt Cass told him. "You didn't answer my question."

Hiro didn't know what else to tell her.

"Alright! You got me! I was gonna go bot fighting! And you know what!? I'd do it again!"

"I knew it!" Aunt Cass exclaimed. "Why do you do this, Hiro!? You know how this affects me, and not just you, right!? Why do you do this to me!?"

"Why do _you_ do this to _me_!? Why don't you just let me make my own decisions!?"

"Because I love you! Besides, who's gonna get you out of jail? What if Tadashi isn't there to do it!? What if he can't do it because he was arrested along _with_ you!?"

"If you really love me, why don't you let me make my own decisions!?"

"Because I care about you and I want you to be safe! You don't realize how much this means to me!"

"What this means to _me_ is that _you_ won't let me do what I want to!"

"I won't let you just do what you want because I love you and I care about you!"

"Why do you hold me back if you do!?"

"Because you don't seem to see the danger in bot fighting and what you do! You don't seem to see the risk you take every time you do!'

"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" Hiro burst out. "I feel that I should've done this a long time ago!"

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" Aunt Cass shouted, know that Hiro was planning to run away.

"JUST WATCH! I'LL NO LONGER BE UNDER YOUR CONTROL! I'LL MAKE A LIVING AS A BOT FIGHTER AND _YOU CAN'T STOP ME_!

Hiro made a run for the stairs, but Aunt Cass grabbed him from behind and held his arms and torso in a bind.

Hiro managed to wriggle his right arm free and elbowed Aunt Cass in the shoulder a bit harder than he originally expected to.

" _OW_!"

Aunt Cass had let go of Hiro and instead clutched her shoulder. Hiro froze for a second, a bit shocked and scared by what he realized he just did. When Aunt Cass went to stop him again, he bolted down the stairs, swung over his shoulder a backpack full of supplies that he had packed for this occasion, unlocked and flung open the side door, and darted out into the busy streets of San Fransokyo.

Aunt Cass gave chase to him and didn't let him out of her sight.

"HIRO!"

Hiro ran down the streets as fast as his legs would carry him, straight into oncoming traffic.

 _He's gonna get hit by a car._ That was the first that ran through Aunt Cass' mind. Yet Hiro managed to dodge oncoming cars.

Cars came to a screeching halt when Hiro or Aunt Cass ran in front of them. Some honked. Other drivers yelled at them. Neither Hiro nor Aunt Cass seemed to comprehend what was going on.

Hiro ran through some crowds of people around a kiosk. "'Scuse me!" "Pardon me!" he told the people in the crowd. Aunt Cass didn't give up and followed suit.

He was out of the crowd, and was a bit tired. Aunt Cass was also growing tired, but she wouldn't give up yet.

Hiro sharply turned a corner and into another crowd, and then another one. When he was out, he continued running straight and then broke a right. When he came to a sparse street, he broke a left, then a right.

All the while, Hiro didn't look back. The only thing he knew was that he had to get away.

After a bit longer, Aunt Cass had finally lost sight of him and gave up the chase. Hiro was just too fast for her, even with that heavy backpack of his. Now it was just finding out how she would get back to the café.

Hiro had finally stopped as well. When he did, he found himself near a city park. Heart racing, out of breath, and sweaty, he dropped his backpack from his shoulders onto the ground.

After he briefly rested, he took out his flashlight from his backpack, flipped it on, and looked through his backpack for his Megabot, but he didn't find it or its controller. He searched through his bag a second time, then a third time. Where was his Megabot?

Hiro facepalmed when he finally realized where it was. The very reason he ran away was left at home!

"Well, I can't bot fight without my Megabot," Hiro said to himself. That was the only battle bot he had ever brought with him to bot fights, and he won every single time with it. Now that he didn't have it, he couldn't be the bot fighter that he had planned to be.

He felt a little thirsty after all that running and pulled out a bottle of water he had packed. He took a small sip of it, careful to conserve it and only drinking what he needed to. If he ran out of water, he would have to drink from a nearby creek or possibly a faucet, and he certainly didn't want the former.

Hiro wiped the sweat off of his face and swatted at some mosquitoes that buzzed around him. He then pulled out some bug spray and sprayed some on the back of his right hand. (He didn't spray it into his palm because he couldn't wash it off, and didn't want to waste his bottled water.) After he did this, he wiped it onto his neck and face, careful not to rub it into his eyes or mouth.

Hiro then felt sleepy and looked for a good place to sleep. He saw a park bench that was about 10 feet away and thought he would sleep there. After he had wiped some excess bug spray onto the exposed portion of his legs, he zipped up his jacket, pulled his hood up over his head, and walked over there with his backpack. He set his backpack on the bench first. Then he laid down on the bench, curled up on his right side and used his backpack as a pillow. Where he would go from here, he didn't know. But one thing was certain: this whole experience wouldn't be what he had originally thought it would.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Hiro awoke early the next morning as the sun peaked over the eastern sky. He blinked a few times and laid still for a few minutes as his brain began to wake up.

He sat up and thought about the previous night, trying to comprehend what happened then and how he managed to find himself awake on a park bench this morning. He thought about how Aunt Cass grabbed him, how he had elbowed her to get himself loose, how he ran through the streets and how he ended up there in that city park. It all seemed hard to take in, but it finally was starting to sink in and he started to believe that all those events actually happened. He wasn't sure how exactly he got there, but he definitely didn't want to go back home.

His stomach rumbled, so he thought he would have some breakfast. He was also thirstier than he was before, so he pulled out the bottle of water he had opened last night and drank some more of it. He then pulled from his bag a pastry that he had snagged from Aunt Cass's case. Most of those pastries could only be on the shelf for 24 hours, and she would sometimes let Hiro and Tadashi have some if she didn't think those baked goods could be sold the same day.

Hiro pulled the pastry out of its plastic bag. It was warm and a bit smooshed, but it would have to do. As he bit into it, he thought about how much better things would be back at home. He thought about how he could have all the food he wanted there. He didn't have to worry about conserving water back at home. He had a loving family and a warm place to sleep back there.

Hiro pushed the thought from his mind and continued to eat his pastry. When half of it was left, he placed it back in its plastic bag and zipped the bag shut. He then put the pastry and his opened bottle of water into his backpack and zipped it up. He then pulled down his hood on his jacket and unzipped said jacket, pulled his backpack over his shoulders, and left his resting site, on his way to finding a new resting site for the night.

That same day at about 10:00 A.M., Aunt Cass felt that she couldn't wait any longer. She picked up her phone and dialed the police department.

She waited while it rang.

Someone picked up and said,

"San Fransokyo Police Station."

"Yes, I would like to file a report," she told the officer on the other end.

"What is it you would like to report?" he asked her.

"My youngest nephew is missing," she told him. "We got into an argument last night. I tried to keep it calm, but he just kinda blew up, grabbed his backpack, and ran out the side door. I tried to stop him, but it was no use."

There was a pause as the officer was typing the information.

"What is your nephew's name?" he asked her.

"Hiro Hamada," Aunt Cass told him.

There was another pause as Hiro's name was being typed into the system.

"Ah, yes," he told her. "We have a bit of a record on him. He was arrested for bot fighting several times, correct?"

"Yes," she told him.

"Is that what your argument was about?"

"Yes."

Another pause.

"Do you have any idea where he is now?" the officer asked Aunt Cass.

"No," she told him.

Yet another pause.

"Is there any way we can contact you if we find any information regarding your lost nephew?"

"Yes," she told him. She then gave him her name and phone number.

"Alright," he told her. "We will contact you if we find any information regarding your nephew."

"Thank you."

After Aunt Cass hung up the phone, she turned to Tadashi, who was coming up the stairs.

"Hiro hasn't returned yet?" Tadashi asked Aunt Cass, though he knew what the answer would be.

"No," she told him.

"Well, the good thing is that it's Sunday, so I don't have class today," he told her. "The café isn't open today, either. I can help you find Hiro."

"How do we do that?" she asked him.

"Well, you called the police, didn't you?" Tadashi asked Aunt Cass. "They can tell you if they find anything. We can also post flyers around town. We can tape them on telephone poles and hand them out to people."

"That's a great idea!" Aunt Cass told him.

"Well, let's get to it!" he told her. "I can help you put them together."

They sat down at Tadashi's computer as he began to type up the information on a Word document. He then found a picture of Hiro and pasted it onto the page before printing it.

Aunt Cass's mind went back to the previous night as she thought about the events that took place then. She thought about how Hiro had ran so far so quickly, how she had a hard time keeping up with him, and how she had finally lost him. She had to take a taxi home after Hiro had ran off because she couldn't find her way back to the café. She didn't have any money with her, so she had to pay when she arrived back.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Tadashi told her:

"I haven't been able to find any indication as to where Hiro is now."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I had put trackers in Hiro's clothes," Tadashi told her. "That's how I was able to find him when he would sneak out to go bot fighting. But he must've discovered them and found a way to remove them, because I can't get a signal to see where he is now."

Aunt Cass looked worried after Tadashi mentioned this to her, but he assured her that everything would be fine.

"Don't worry," he reassured her. "We will find Hiro."

Aunt Cass accepted Tadashi's reassurance, and Tadashi began printing more flyers. When he had printed a stack of them, he set them off to the side. He had to change the ink cartridges once and put more paper in a few times, but after he had printed two large stacks of flyers, they were ready to start handing them out.

They walked out into the bustling streets, each carrying a stack of flysheets. The stacks were each held together by a very large black clip so they would stay together easier.

Aunt Cass had started handing her flyers out to passerby, while Tadashi taped his to nearby street lamps and telephone poles. It was a warm, sunny day outside, so there were plenty of people around to see.

Everywhere they went, they distributed the flyers. And at every corner of town, there was a flyer that had a picture of Hiro and read:

 **Missing**

 **Hiro Hamada**

 **If found, please call: 621-109-1811**

 **$500 Reward**

"I dunno," she told Tadashi. "Trying to find Hiro in a city this size is like trying to find a needle in a haystack."

"He has to be in this city somewhere," Tadashi told her. "I know that someone has to find him."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It had been a week since Hiro ran away, and it had been a very eventful experience since then.

Hiro had tried to eat and drink sparingly, but after two days, he was out of water. He brought an opaque refillable bottle with him and found a public restroom at the city park he could use, but after he tasted the tap water from the faucet, he spit it out right away. With a grimace on his face, he turned the faucet on again and filled the bottle with water. It wasn't until later that Hiro remembered that there was a water fountain. He dumped out what was left of the tap water and filled up the bottle with the fountain water (though it wasn't much better than the faucet). Hiro did bring some money with him and thought he could get a bottle of water out of a vending machine. But what would he do when he ran out of money? It would be down to a faucet, a water fountain, or a nearby creek.

Hiro was also almost out of food. All week, he had been living off of what he had packed, which included pastries, beef jerky, packaged tuna and salmon, dried fruits, and so on. He would sometimes go around to park benches to see if anyone had left food, but this was rarely the case. If he ran out of food, he would have no choice but to go dumpster diving.

Speaking of dumpster diving, Hiro also had to keep up on his hygiene. He brought two travel-size tubes of shampoo and conditioner each, but he ran out of these pretty quickly. He brought two bars of soap with him so he could sort of rinse out his hair, but he didn't get very clean overall. His clothes were also dirty and beat up, and he only brought one change of clothes and no other pairs of shoes.

Hiro also didn't get a good night's sleep all week. He knew the dangers of being out there alone and therefore was sleeping in a different location every night. One night he slept in a tree, another night he slept in a bush, another night he slept in an opaque tube at a children's playground, and he even slept behind some brush on a cliff that was next to a waterfall (which was in the same park that he visited earlier.)

Hiro had to be very careful to avoid snakes and other wild animals. If something were to happen to him, he would have to go to a hospital and would be discovered.

Hiro didn't go anywhere near bot fights. Without the trackers, Tadashi wouldn't be able to help him, so if something went wrong, Hiro would be pretty much on his own.

Hiro also noticed that his face was all around town. To avoid detection while he was out and about, he would walk around with his hood over his head and wore sunglasses on his eyes, all while carrying his backpack. He looked a bit ghetto, but it was his best call in avoiding his discovery. If he saw a police car or officer nearby, or suspected that one was nearby, he would duck inside a trash can in an alleyway. He felt like Oscar the Grouch, but it was the best he could do to evade the police. Whenever Hiro hid inside a trash can, he would think about Oscar the Grouch. He thought about the show Sesame Street, how he and Tadashi watched that as kids, the theme song from that show, and other music from the show, such as Oscar's song, "I Love Trash."

Hiro shifted back to reality. He was in a trash can, after all, and was only in there because he was running from the police. When the coast was clear, he would peek out of the trash can, climb out of there and brush himself off, and would be on his way. Despite running from Tadashi, Aunt Cass, and the police, Hiro felt that there was someone else he was running from…

One time as Hiro was walking down the street, he was reminded of the song, "I'm a Gummy Bear", which was actually his favorite song (though he didn't like to admit it).

 _Gummy bears sure sound good right now,_ he thought as he looked for a vending machine.

Aunt Cass was pacing around the living room, ranting about Hiro and how he had run away, unable to think of anything else besides that. She didn't know how long she had been doing that, but it felt like it had been about 20 minutes. Tadashi was just standing to the side and silently watched her. He knew how upsetting it must be to her, but he didn't join in on the anger.

"Ooh, when he gets back, he is so gonna get it!" Aunt Cass shouted.

Tadashi paused before he said:

"Maybe that's why he hasn't come back."

Aunt Cass stopped in her tracks and turned to face Tadashi.

"What?" she said, a bit confused.

Tadashi sighed before he explained to her:

"Hiro probably hasn't returned because he's afraid he'll be punished when he does."

Aunt Cass thought about it for a while before she finally said in a bit of a sadder and graver tone:

"You really think so?"

"I know Hiro more than anybody," Tadashi told her. "Hiro's lost his way. He needs someone to bring him back and kindly show him where he belongs."

"I don't know, Tadashi," Aunt Cass told him. "You always seem so calm in situations like these."

"Sometimes I struggle to stay that way, though," Tadashi replied.

Tadashi could see tears in the corners of Aunt Cass' eyes.

"I'm sorry," she told him, wiping her eyes with her hand.

"It's fine, really," he said to her. "I don't mind if you cry in front of me. I miss him, too."

Aunt Cass thought about what happened about a week ago and shouted:

"Why on WHY did I yell at him!? Why did I push him to do this!? Why did I lose sight of him!?"

"Aunt Cass," Tadashi said, firmly yet mellow.

Aunt Cass just looked up at Tadashi, her eyes a bit red.

"This whole thing isn't your fault. I understand how you may feel like it is, but it isn't."

"Sometimes I can't help but feel that way," Aunt Cass told him, now in tears and looking away from Tadashi. "I mean, why would he go do something like that?"

Tadashi waited to reply to her before he humbly and non-judgmentally told her in a sad tone of voice:

"Do you think I'm not hurt, either?"

Aunt Cass looked up at him again.

"It was Hiro's choice," he honestly told her, while at the same time not judging Hiro. "But he doesn't belong out there. He needs to be brought back here where he belongs."

Aunt Cass just stood there, trying to process what Tadashi was telling her. She thought about how Hiro had packed up his own backpack, how he had ran out the door, and how he had ran so far so quickly and lost sight of her. She realized that, buried all her anger, was both fear and hurt. She was fearing for Hiro's safety out there alone, and she had been hurt by his wrongdoings. She had been hurt physically (when he elbowed her) and emotionally. After a brief silence, Tadashi told her:

"I found Hiro's Megabot."

"You _found_ it? Where was it?"

"Here at home. It was actually sitting on the dresser in here. He must have set it there and forgot to pack it."

"Where is it now?"

"In my room. Trying to think of somewhere else to put it, but I want to keep it away from Hiro."

Aunt Cass felt a little better knowing that Hiro wasn't going to any bot fights. She cracked a slight grin as she said:

"Well, I sure am glad he didn't pack it."

However, her grin soon disappeared as she thought about all the other dangers that Hiro faced out there alone.

Aunt Cass couldn't muster up any words to say and instead threw her arms around Tadashi.

"I know," he said, empathizing with her and embracing her. "I want him to return, too. I'm praying that he'll be found."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 _Hiro was sitting on the green, grassy ground, leaning against his backpack with his legs tucked against him and his arms wrapped around his knees. The moon was full, and the sky was black. There were no stars out tonight; the only other light came from street lamps. As he sat there, a mysterious song began playing. (He didn't recognize this song, but the song was "Blinded" by Lisa Gerrard.) He looked up at the sky, and then to the river that was to his right. He got up from his spot and walked over to the river. Kneeling on the hard stone ground next to a bridge that went over the river, he briefly stared down at his reflection. When he saw that he was dirty, he swept his right hand through the water, his fingers raking through his reflection. He turned to face the bridge, sitting in the position that he was previously in. He looked down and thought for a moment as he sat there and the water on the river rippled. He turned his head to his right and glanced over at the river again. He turned and leaned over the river again, on his hands and knees, staring into the water as it rippled. The ripples gradually stopped, and the water was still and reflective as a sheet of glass. Hiro stared into the river more intently, and as he did so, he suddenly became a lot more dirty. There was no dirt thrown on him or anything; it just appeared on him, and it felt as though the dirt came from the inside out. Hiro rubbed his right hand in his hair and shook some small dirt clods loose, glancing over to his right to see that it was actually on him and didn't just appear in the reflection. He hastily cupped some of the river water in his hand and splashed it onto his face. He did this a few more times, but it was no use; the dirt would not come off. Hiro wanted to be made clean, but at the same time, he didn't. He knew that being made clean was the right way to go, but he was reluctant to change. As the music gradually faded out, he was left staring into his reflection, pondering over the matter that he had been faced with._

Hiro opened his eyes to find himself in the middle of a grassy field. He noticed that it was morning, and the sky was overcast. A bird singing broke the silence. He found himself slumped on the grass with his backpack behind him. His jacket was unzipped, and it was halfway up his back. The hood on said jacket was sort of crinkled up at the lower part of his head. He blinked a few times. He then turned his head to the right and then to the left, wondering how he had gotten there, and then sat up.

Hiro remembered back to the previous night. He had found another, much smaller city park that wasn't too far from the one he had been to previously. He had sat on the grass the previous night, looking up at the starry sky. He told himself that he would find someplace else to sleep later, but he guessed that he fell asleep there instead.

Hiro thought about the dream he had the previous night. He got up, grabbed his backpack (which was much lighter than it was before) and went on his way to find food. It was Thursday of the second week he had been away, and with no food left, he would have a difficult time finding stuff to eat. Maybe he would find something in a dumpster? Hiro didn't know. All he knew was that he had to find something.

Hiro had been scrounging for food much of the second week. He was always careful when eating food from garbage cans and dumpsters, but he did get sick once. However, this ailment passed within 24 hours.

Hiro didn't know where exactly he was going. Sometimes as he was walking around town, he felt like he was going somewhere, while other times he felt like he was just going in circles. He wanted to find his way, but he couldn't. He knew that he had to go somewhere, but he didn't know where and couldn't find the way to get there.

When Hiro walked around during the day, he spent much of that time walking through alleyways. It wasn't his preferred method of getting around, but it was the best he could do to hide from the police and avoid detection. However, when it grew dark outside, he would walk on the main streets. As he usually did, he walked around with his hood over his head, and carried his backpack on his back. He wore sunglasses during the day, but took them off at night. In addition to Hiro sleeping in different locations every night, he also went to sleep early. He typically went to sleep around 9:00 (or whenever the sun went down) to avoid activity during the dangerous parts of the night.

As Hiro was walking around town that Thursday afternoon, he felt a few raindrops hit his face. After about a minute, it turned into a light rain, but it became heavier after a few minutes. Expecting the rain to become even heavier, Hiro ran for shelter under the outside canopy of a building. After about ten minutes, it had turned into a downpour. Hiro didn't bring a rain jacket or an umbrella, so he had little choice but to wait for the rain to lighten up. When the rain had lightened up slightly, he ran for it and ran under another structure's roof or canopy. He did this for much of the day, but he did run back to the huge city park a couple of times. The second time he went back to the park, he noticed the waterfall and then the bridge. When he looked at the bridge, he was reminded of the dream he had the previous night. When the rain had lightened up a little more, he went over to where he actually was in the dream and briefly looked into his reflection, wondering what the dream could've meant. As Hiro was leaving, he looked back at the bridge. He had thought about sleeping on the walkway under it, but he heard that boats sometimes patrolled the river.

The rain continued into the night. Hiro walked down the main streets, looking for someplace that seemed to be a safe refuge. He was shivering from being cold and wet. He saw an alleyway to his right and thought he would take shelter there. There was also a dumpster, so maybe there would be some food there that seemed good enough.

Hiro sat down with his back against a wall in the alleyway, curled up, and tried to retain his body heat. He realized he was in the exact same position he was in in the dream he had the previous night. He turned his gaze towards Heaven, and as the rain continued to fall, he looked down at the ground. He reflected back on the past two weeks.

 _I'm lost,_ he thought to himself. Why it didn't occur to him before now, he didn't know. As he was looking down at the ground, he noticed how he himself and his clothes were dirty. He thought about the dream he had and now he realized the meaning of it. When he looked up at the black sky, he was lost and was looking for answers. The reflection from the river was he examining himself, and the dirt that appeared on him signified how he was even dirtier on the inside than he was on the outside. Just like how it was at the end of the dream, Hiro was left to ponder over the matter in real life. Now that he realized his error, what would he do about it? That's what he was left to ponder over while he was also trying to comprehend this sudden realization.

Hiro looked at the matter at hand and thought he would sleep on it—literally. When he looked down at his watch, it read 9:08. He scoped the area to see if there was anything he could use to shield himself from the rain. He then saw a large piece of cardboard sticking up out of the dumpster. Hiro looked around to see if there was anything he could use to prop it up, and he saw a gray brick on the ground. Standing on his tiptoes, he reached up and began pulling out the cardboard.

Tadashi and Aunt Cass had just finished cleaning up the kitchen. Tadashi had just dried the last dish and put it away in the cupboard where it belonged. It felt strange without Hiro being there for dinner and him not being there to help clean up the kitchen. Tadashi looked around for Aunt Cass. She was in the kitchen a minute ago, but seemed to have vanished. When he looked in the living room, he could see Aunt Cass standing at the big window, looking to the outside. Tadashi walked over to her, but she didn't say anything. Finally, she said:

"Where could he be? He's going to catch pneumonia in this weather." She paused before she said, "Is he even alive?"

Aunt Cass hadn't heard about Hiro in the past two weeks. When she and Tadashi first printed the flyers and posted them around town, the reward for finding Hiro was $500. At the end of the first week, she changed it to $700 and then to $1,000 this week.

"Where are you going to find the money for this?" Tadashi asked her.

"I don't know," she told him.

As Tadashi was thinking about this, he responded to Aunt Cass' questions.

"It's going to turn out alright," Tadashi told Aunt Cass. "Hiro's alive out there. He just needs someone to bring him back home."

"How do you know he's alive?" Aunt Cass asked him.

"I just do," Tadashi told her. "Everything will work out for good."

"But what good can come out of this?" Aunt Cass asked him.

"I don't know yet," Tadashi told her. "But what I do know is that God can take even the garbage in our lives and turn it into something beautiful."

Aunt Cass seemed especially moved by those words. She looked up at Tadashi and couldn't muster any words to say, but instead let her knees hit the floor and she sobbed uncontrollably. Tadashi knelt down in front of her and as he embraced her. As she hugged him back, he was reminded of a song[1] he heard not too long ago. He could almost hear that song playing as he comforted Aunt Cass. In that same moment, Hiro was in the alleyway, curled up under the piece of cardboard, trying to sleep and at the same time stay warm. As Tadashi continued to comfort Aunt Cass, he knew that it physically wouldn't be a restful night for any of them. Yet he knew that he could rest well spiritually, because he knew Who was guiding him through each and every day, and that he could get through this difficult time with God's help.

* * *

[1] The song playing here is "Cry Out to Jesus" by Third Day. I do not own this song; all rights go to their respective owners.


End file.
